Podcasting vs. Vodcasting: What's the Difference?

One (of many) things I have a lot of strong opinions on is social media. A lot of people think social media is the sewer of all media - but I completely disagree with that. Social media now allows all of us into the discourse, and provides a democratization of ideas. It's a utility or tool - and like any tool, may be used for good or evil. And, as my own grand experiment moves forward with live streaming here at LinkedIn, I started noticing a pattern. People would say, "Hey, I watched your podcast the other day..." and I had to do a double take. Why?

Because you can't watch podcasts.

I think what they mean is the video streaming I've been doing. However, that's in my mind a totally different thing than podcasting, probably due to the fact that vodcasting (or video broadcasting) is a completely and much harder medium to put together and put out well than podcasting (or audio only broadcasting). And trust me, I'm a complete hack at both, but I definitely have my preferences for podcasting (or audio only broadcasting) because it's a much, MUCH easier medium to put forth into the universe - that and I've just been doing audio only broadcasting for a much longer time now.

BTW, here is my latest vodcast, and here is the latest podcast.

Because of all this confusion (maybe only in my brain alone? I don't know) I sat down and did a comparison of podcasting (audio only) vs. vodcasting (audio and video) and thought I'd share it below. Not only for my own brain reconciliation, but also for my upcoming Podcasting 101 Workshop and Mastermind Series, as I'm going to have to be able to articulate the similarities and differences between the two mediums (and trust me, the chasm is very, very wide that distinguishes the two from each other, and least over here).

Further complicating matters, there is the concept of delivering content either initially as live or enduring. In CPE for pharmacists, we call that 'live' or 'home study.' I kind of blended issues below (the law professors in my life would not like that much) but hey - again, I'm a novice here when it comes to audio and video delivery of content.

Let's compare and contrast, shall we?

Again, these are very, very different in my mind. Although, I do have to confess that there was a session at She Podcasts on putting your audio podcasts out on youtube. But for now, I don't want to blend the two mediums - as the purpose of this exercise was to distinguish them from one another. It can be overwhelming on where to start these days.

I have a clear winner in my mind - but that may depend upon the individual. But, if you never try, you'll never know - to quote the sage Chris Martin. So, upon reading, and if you think you're dipping your toe into one or both of these, good luck! May you pick the version that is best suited for you.

To those of you who are experts in either medium, let me know what I missed. And, if you find the live or real time streaming adds another level of complexity to your own productions..?

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Erin L. Albert is really a writer, disguised as a hack social media rank amateur. Opinions are hers and hers alone. Table and artwork in this blog post are copyright Pharm, LLC 2019 - any reproduction of information must have written permission by and from the author prior to use.